Due to their relatively low cost, lid and container assemblies made from polymeric materials such as polyester or polyethylene are particularly useful for packaging food stuffs and other such items. As a typical example in the packaged food industry, food items are packed within a thin plastic container whose side walls taper from top to bottom. A lid is provided that releasably engages the container top. To maintain freshness and to prevent tampering with the container contents, a layer of shrinkwrap is formed around the container, usually enveloping the side walls and all or a portion of the container top. The food contents of the container are often pre-arranged into an attractive display, such that the package is ready for serving after opening without any labor required of the consumer. In the assembly process, affixing a label to the side wall of the container can be time-consuming and increases assembly and material costs. To reduce the costs of assembly and eliminate the need for adhesive, the label may be placed between the container side wall and the shrinkwrap before shrinking the shrinkwrap layer. After the shrinkwrap is shrunk, the label is sufficiently held in place until the container is opened.
The type of container-lid-shrinkwrap arrangement just described can be undesirable because the shrinkwrap layer typically falls from the container side wall(s) after it is torn from the top, especially in a container whose side walls taper from top to bottom. In such instance, the label becomes loose and thus discarded or lost. This is undesirable when the label contains important food preparation instructions, e.g., instructions for re-heating. One way to avoid this problem is to adhesively affix the label to the container before shrink wrapping, but such involves extra material (adhesive) and a more costly label. Another problem is that once the shrinkwrap falls from the container side walls, it, too, must often be discarded. In many instances, however, it would be desirable to utilize the original shrinkwrap layer to reseal the container when saving leftover food items. This would save time re-wrapping and would avoid wasting a new sheet of plastic wrap.
Containers sealed in shrinkwrap are well-known in the art and various examples thereof can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,671; Des. 381,259; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,708,242 and 5,495,944. U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,671 discloses a container having a shrinkwrap tube which is adhesively secured to a backing card with a hole in it for hanging on a display. However, the shrinkwrap disclosed in the '671 patent does not enclose nor seal the container cap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,242 teaches a method of stretch-wrapping various articles. Des. 381,259 discloses a container whose cap and body are enveloped in a shrinkwrap layer and whose cap is formed with an indentation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,944 discloses a tamper-proof container wherein a frangible label and shrinkwrap are adhered to the container side wall such that tampering ruptures the label and thus provides evidence of possible tampering.
None of the aforementioned containers address the problem of the shrinkwrap falling from the container side walls after initially tearing the shrinkwrap. Indeed, in most prior art container designs, the shrinkwrap is merely provided to prevent tampering with the container before it is purchased. The shrinkwrap is intended to be discarded after the consumer first opens the package.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide an economical container-lid-shrinkwrap combination in which the shrinkwrap adheres to the container side walls after the container is opened.